How late are YOUR trains?! Train performance data to be displayed at stations to ‘rebuild trust’ – but will it really do that? Rail Minister Lord Hendy doubts passengers will be as patient as they need to be with the time it may take to fix the railway’s problems… And we speak to former Chair of the Transport Select Committee Iain Stewart CBE about rail reform and the challenges ahead In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:52) Train performance data at stations (07:19) Lord Hendy doubts passengers w...
Apr 16, 2025•52 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Thousands of rail jobs to be axed, including on HS2? We discuss the reports in the context of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) lock horns over access to the network And… Network Rail’s Head of Safety Martin Frobisher talks to us about the ORR’s concerns on railway structure safety In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:44) Thousands of rail job cuts (09:35) Network Rail and ORR on access to the network (17:57) Teaser of Huw Merriman interview on ne...
Apr 16, 2025•52 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Join us for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the major £15 million track renewal project on the Cambrian railway line near Machynlleth. In this video, we dive into the impressive 17-day blockade work, featuring full track renewal, bridge repairs, and innovative equipment like the Trac Rail Transposers. We also explore the exciting 'Local Railway' initiative – a collaboration between Transport for Wales, Network Rail, and other partners aimed at transforming local rail services. Lea...
Apr 15, 2025•23 min
Every year, thousands of people, especially teenagers, risk their lives by trespassing on railway tracks, often unaware of the deadly consequences. In this eye-opening video, we reveal shocking footage of near misses, showing the true dangers of railway trespassing. With trains reaching speeds of up to 125mph and overhead wires carrying 25,000 volts, stepping onto the tracks is far more dangerous than most people realise. Join us as we explore why this problem persists, the efforts being made to...
Apr 11, 2025•21 min
We dive into the intriguing topic of whether HS2 trains could cause a ‘sonic boom’ as they speed through the UK’s high-speed rail network. High-speed trains in other countries, like Germany and Spain, have experienced this phenomenon when entering tunnels, but what about the UK's HS2 project? Join us as we explore the science behind sonic booms, the technology used to prevent them, and take a close look at the world-first Chilterns Tunnel south portal on HS2. We also have an exclusive interv...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 79
The Prime Minister announces £415m investment in railways in the north! But what’s the real story? Virgin Trains moves a step closer to challenging Eurostar… but it’s still a long way off being a done deal And… passenger numbers are increasing… but revenue is still lagging miles behind. We investigate. In this episode: (00:00) Intro(00:47) £415m for railways in the North(11:24) Virgin Trains challenge against Eurostar(20:39) Passenger revenue investigation(35:52) Thanks to Supporters, Super Than...
Apr 03, 2025•53 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Huw Merriman, former Minister of Rail in the last Conservative Government talks about his new role as Chair of the Liverpool Manchester Railway Board. He explains how Andy Burnham (Mayor of Greater Manchester) and Steve Rotheram (Mayor of Liverpool City Region) have tasked him with leading the creation of far more than just a railway – an economic corridor to promote jobs and growth on a big scale. We also discuss HS2 and the decision of Rishi Sunak when Prime Minister to cancel Phase 2 north of...
Apr 01, 2025•35 min
Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains fights hard to return to the West Coast Main Line with an appeal to the Office of Rail and Road over available capacity We ask how many public officials does it take to have a meeting about railway projects these days? And a new Northumberland Line station – Newsham opens In this episode: (00:00) Intro(00:40) Virgin Trains open access fight(31:50) How many officials does it take to have a railway meeting?(34:55) Thanks to Supporters, Super Thanks and Members(36:15...
Mar 20, 2025•50 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Flying Scotsman DOES have a main line future – we speak to the National Railway Museum about plans for the world-famous locomotive Where now for HS2? The Public Accounts Committee asks what benefits can be “salvaged” from the project and we speak to former project Chairman Allan Cooke CBE And… Does the Royal Train have a future after all? In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:47) Flying Scotsman’s main line future (18:58) HS2 PAC report (41:04) Rail fares increase (45:34) Thanks to Supporters, Supe...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Heritage Railway Association CEO Steve Oates talks about the challenges facing the heritage railway sector. Steam railways are under increasing pressure, threatening the financial viability of them as businesses. Steve provides a unique insight into difficulties and what railways are doing to try and ensure their survival.Subscribe: If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. Better still, hit that subscribe button. It supports the channel and means you'll be notified whenever we pu...
Mar 04, 2025•53 min
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) threatens Network Rail with possible enforcement action under the Health & Safety at Work Act. Could there be growing safety concerns with some of our railway structures? We look at the reaction to the government’s Railways Bill consultation on GBR and hear from the Rail Freight Group’s Director General, Maggie Simpson. There are strong words from the Heritage Railway Association’s CEO Steve Oates about the state of leadership and governance with some of the...
Feb 27, 2025•57 min•Season 1Ep. 73
The government publishes ‘Delivering a railway fit forBritain’s future’. It’s the clearest indication yet of the government’sintentions for the future structure of GBR. In the most dramatic change of all, GBR will allocate accessto the network – and the ORR is downgraded to an appeals body. It marks the endof the 1993 Railways Act vision of access and access charges determined by anindependent regulator. In future, it’s GBR’s railway. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:58) Railways Bill Consulta...
Feb 20, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Amongst all the HS2 construction updates, one important thing has been missing. What is HS2 actually going to be like for passengers? When will we see HS2 trains running? What will the customer experience be like? What has the cancellation of Phase 2a meant for plans to transform rail travel on the West Coast? All these questions and many more are the domain of West Coast Partnership Development Managing Director Shamit Gaiger – an expert in transformational change and a passionate advocate for ...
Feb 18, 2025•38 min
2025 is a big year for the railway. It’s the 200thanniversary of the Stockton & Darlington railway, which is generally considered the world’s first commercial railway venture. Celebrations are getting underway, so Stef had a chat withEmma Robertson and Anthony Coulls to find out what’s being planned. Emma is the Railway 200 Programme Manager for GBRTT and Anthony is Senior Curator for Rail Transport and Technology at the National Railway Museum. Membership: If you want to see even more from ...
Feb 17, 2025•16 min
Is a Virgin Trains comeback on the West Coast Main Lineabout to be crushed? And the Department for Transport strongly objects to a swarm of other open access applications in a letter to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) setting out its concerns. And… Richard samples Transport for Wales’ Premier Dining… In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:50) Virgin Trains comeback to be crushed? (25:47) Shamit Gaiger West Coast Partnership Developmentpreview (31:27) RIA/RBD news (35:04) Railway 200 update (37:14)...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 71
An HS2 construction update this week with the completion of an incredible 4,500 tonne deck slide for a viaduct at Small Dean in Buckinghamshire Richard takes a trip to see the wonderful semaphore signals and manual signalboxes at Shrewsbury And… We find out all about hotly anticipated The Greatest Gathering at Alstom’s Derby Litchurch Lane to celebrate Railway 200 In this episode: (00:00) Intro(01:28) HS2’s Small Dean deck slide(21:45) The Greatest Gathering launch(27:16) Shrewsbury semaphore si...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Has Chancellor Rachel Reeves given the economy the growth serum it needs, or is she on a planet looking increasingly like it’s far, far away? Great British Railways could have the ‘scale and impact’ of the NHS. Seriously?! And the Transport Select Committee grills the Chair of Shadow GBR and the Rail Minister on progress setting up the new organisation – and we ask - have they made any?! In this episode: (00:00) Intro(00:55) Rachel Reeves speech on economic growth(14:17) GBR to have ‘scale and i...
Jan 30, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Rail Partners is a trade body that was set up to promote and focus on the interests of the private sector train operators, both passenger and freight, on the railway. But it has become a casualty of the Labour government’s approach to railways and the increasing drive towards nationalisation of operators. Rail Partners announced recently that from March 2025 they will wind up their operations. They have been quite fierce critics of the approach being adopted that instead of combining the best of...
Jan 28, 2025•44 min
Forget trains, roads are the way forward – or that seems to be the message from the National Infrastructure Commission’s Chairman Sir John Armitt CBE at a recent Transport Select Committee session. … Not helped by news reports that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering scaling back rail spending. Big time. And we starting investigating what’s going on with planned upgrades on the West Coast Main Line and the Trilink project. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:35) Sir John Armitt at the Transpo...
Jan 23, 2025•56 min•Season 1Ep. 68
A brand new railway is being built in Wales. They have the land. They have the planning permission. Some of the ballast is even laid. All they need is the rest of the money to finish it and they can reconnect a railway with its town. The Bala Lake Railway (home of the beautiful Quarry Hunslets) on the banks of the glorious Bala Lake in Snowdonia is raising the money to take the railway from its current terminus on the outskirts of Bala, where there are no facilities to a brand new station in the...
Jan 21, 2025•39 min
Railway accidents and train crashes are investigated thoroughly to find out what caused them and how they can be prevented from happening again. We spoke to Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) Deputy Chief Inspector Andy Lewis to find out how accident investigation has changed, what RAIB’s role is, and to learn about recent accidents. We discuss the Flying Scotsman collision at the Strathspey Railway in Aviemore in September 2023, and the more recent fatal accident at Talerddig in Wales in...
Jan 20, 2025•24 min
Is Virgin Trains about to make a comeback in the UK with a £500m train order to operate services through the Channel Tunnel to compete with Eurostar? Is passenger revenue now on the rise as well as passenger numbers? We review Office of Rail and Road figures and Great British Railways Transition Team analysis of the latest data. We speak to RAIB Deputy Chief Inspector Andy Lewis about the Strathspey and Talerddig accident reports in a preview to an upcoming full interview. And… the Elizabeth Lin...
Jan 16, 2025•48 min•Season 1Ep. 67
We take a trip to the Transport for Wales Taffs Well depot to find out about progress on a remarkable project - the South Wales Metro. TfW CEO James Price talks to us about what’s happening on the project and plans for the future, as well as delving into the wider challenges (and successes) of running the railways in Wales. Membership: If you want to see even more from Green Signals, including exclusive content, become a member and support the channel further too. YouTube - ...
Jan 14, 2025•33 min
Is Northern Powerhouse Rail dead? And levelling up with it…? Has the Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander signalled the beginning of the end for Open Access operators on the railway? Richard visits Transport for Wales to talk to CEO James Price and learns about South Wales Metro as well as the challenges of delivering rail in Wales January train strikes hit the railway with RMT taking action on Avanti West Coast In this episode: (00:00) Intro (01:10) Is Northern Powerhouse Rail dead ...
Jan 09, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 66
What does 2025 have in store for the railway? We first take a look back at the big stories of 2024, before looking forward to the year ahead… And an HS2 construction update – Euston station is confirmed at just 6 platforms, but the first Tunnel Boring Machine completes its journey under the capital to Ealing In this episode: (00:00) Intro (01:49) Biggest stories of 2024 (08:15) Good news from 2024 (14:53) Bad news from 2024 (16:23) HS2’s progress since the General Election (31:14) Train cancella...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 65
Richard Bowker is in conversation with his father Roger Bowker, a legendary transport industry professional who spent 62 years in the bus industry working for Eastern National, Oldham Corporation, SELNEC, Greater Manchester Transport, Rossendale Transport, Eastbourne Buses, London Transport and Stagecoach Group. A pioneer with the industry, Roger Bowker’s passion for excellence in service whilst at the same time delivering a profitable business means he is highly respected amongst his peers. His...
Dec 26, 2024•1 hr 12 min
The Northumberland Line opens to passengers from Newcastle to Ashington after 60 years. The Isle of Wight’s Island Line major engineering reaches the halfway point. And… Rail Minister Lord Hendy makes his first appearance at the Transport Select Committee. Bit of a different episode this week with Nigel in the UK and Richard in Abu Dhabi! So a shorter show, but still full of the all the latest railway news to keep you in the loop before the festive season gets underway. In this episode: (00:00) ...
Dec 19, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 64
A £500 million Hitachi Rail train deal for Lumo & Hull Trains. But is this in direct conflict with the Labour Government’s railway renationalisation plans? We speak to First Rail Managing Director Steve Montgomery to find out more about the deal and discuss what it means for the future of open access. Blackpool Trams announces suspension of Heritage Trams And we round up the latest railway stats for passenger journeys, rail freight, performance and more from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR’...
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Open Access railway operation is a divisive topic. Whilst there have been undoubted success stories with major communities such as Hull and Bradford previously sidelined by the big operators suddenly being reconnected with through services to London, there have been challenges. How much do Open Access services abstract from existing operators, and can they really claim to be operated entirely at the risk of the open access operator, free from public subsidy? GO-OP rail is a new type of Open Acce...
Dec 10, 2024•26 min
Heritage railways face an existential threat as Autumn Budget tax changes will cost some more than £200,000 a year! We speak to Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway General Manager and Acting Chair of the Heritage Railway Association Paul Lewin to find out just how challenging things have become for steam and heritage railways. Heidi Alexander becomes the new Transport Secretary following the shock resignation of Louise Haigh The Public Ownership Bill to nationalise Britain’s railways receive...
Dec 05, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 62
